alt Hacker NewsSuper interesting data.
I do question this finding:
> the small model category as a whole is seeing its share of usage decline.
It's important to remember that this data is from OpenRouter... a API service. Small models are exactly those that can be self-hosted.
It could be the case that total small model usage has actually grown, but people are self-hosting rather than using an API. OpenRouter would not be in a position to determine this.
Thank you & totally agree! The findings are purely observational through OpenRouter’s lens, so they naturally reflect usage on the platform, not the entire ecosystem.